Citation

Ashbaughm LP, Cornell DG. J. School Violence 2008; 7(2): 21-38.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1300/J202v07n02_03

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Sexual harassment is widely viewed as a form of bullying, but has received little attention in studies of middle school students. A survey of 109 6th grade students found that 29% of students reported at least one sexual harassment experience in the past 30 days, with 11% reporting harassment once per week or more. Although boys and girls reported similar rates of harassment, there were important gender differences-boys were more likely than girls to try to ignore sexual harassment, but girls were more likely to tell someone about their experience and to tell the perpetrator to stop. There was high concordance between sexual harassment and bullying for both boys and girls. These findings indicate the need to recognize the role of sexual harassment in bullying in middle school.